| ColorOfChange member Casey Stevens started an iam.colorofchange petition to Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, and all other Reddit advertisers stating:
“Audible showed itself to be a good corporate citizen by taking a stand and pulling its ads. I am now asking that you do the same until Reddit bans hate speech entirely. Will you please make a public commitment to cancel your advertising on Reddit until it accomplishes the following: I am calling on Netflix and the other advertisers who remain to pull their ads from Reddit until they institute the following policies: 1)Ban any speech intended to dehumanize, demean or degrade a group of people based on inherent personal characteristics like race, gender, sexuality, religion, and the like. 2)Ban users from forming groups solely devoted to hating other people. 3)Ban the rest of the subreddits devoted to hate, not just CoonTown.” |
I just started a petition titled “Don’t Fund the Next Dylann Roof: Dump Reddit” Here’s why this is important: Online hate speech leads to violence in the real world. Less than two months ago, nine people were killed as they worshipped at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. The young man who murdered them did so as a result of his indoctrination by various websites espousing racial hatred. The website Stormfront has already been linked to upwards of 100 murders. Despite recently banning CoonTown, its largest “subreddit,” or forum, dedicated to anti-Black racism, Reddit still hosts tens of thousands of white nationalists and other racist activists in the many racist subreddits that remain, and CoonTown users have already announced plans to re-form. These users recently began outpacing Stormfront users in measures of engagement like subscriber growth and page views, which spells danger; in its report on murderers linked to Stormfront, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted that more time spent on hate sites was a common characteristic of those who went on to kill. Reddit validates hate speech by giving it space on one of the largest, best-known websites on the web. White supremacist groups have also recognized the site as a fertile breeding ground for their ideologies, and have provided a template for using Reddit to recruit new blood to their cause. The “containment” strategy that Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced earlier this month is not keeping hate contained; racist content shows up all over the site, and subscribers to hate subreddits continue to harass other users, particularly users on Black-interest subreddits. Reddit has repeatedly shown that it will not act to protect women or people of color without public and financial pressure to do so. Child porn and other forms of non-consensual pornography, such as revenge porn, were only recently banned, and only after a barrage of negative media attention and celebrity involvement. Despite publicly announcing a crack down on subreddits that harass others and promote violence, Reddit continues to look the other way as subscribers to its racist subreddits harass users of color, celebrate violence against black and Jewish people, and call for racial holy war. With the momentum building and in response to pressure from activists and supporters like yourself, Reddit announced August 5th that it would ban some of its racist subreddits, including “CoonTown.” However, in doing so, Reddit didn’t articulate a clear hate speech policy, and made no moves to stop the violent anti-black racism that dominates the site. They banned CoonTown because it became an “annoyance” to them. Reddit’s announcement was so egregious that Gizmodo published a piece titled “Reddit Bans /r/Coontown For All the Wrong Reasons. Please join me, Casey Stevens
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Monthly Archives: August 2015
The Buckeye Squeeze
Ohio’s Middle Class Is Hurting, And GOP Policies Will Just Make It Worse
In a little more than 24 hours, 10 Republican men will take the stage in Cleveland for the first GOP primary debate. More than likely, most candidates will claim they are champions of Ohio’s middle class.
It is true that Ohio’s working families need a champion, as a new CAP Action report indicates. The Cleveland Plain Dealer discusses the report’s key points ahead of debate night, highlighting that that the median household income in Ohio has dropped by more than 6% in the last 30 years. As the Plain Dealer states, “only three states fared worse” than Ohio in terms of median household income.
However, another new CAP Action report shows that Republican rhetoric on how they value working Ohioans is far different than reality. Actually, many GOP candidates supporting policies that benefit the wealthy at the expense of the Ohio middle class.
In short, GOP candidates’ policies would hurt Ohio’s working families. Here are a few key examples:
- Conservative tax policies overwhelming benefit the wealthiest Americans at the expense of working families. For example, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rick Perry have all called for eliminating or drastically reducing the capital gains tax, a policy that would benefit 92% of Ohio taxpayers who made $1 million or more in 2012, but would have almost no impact on Ohio’s middle class.
- Conservative policies make it harder to create good-paying jobs. Right-to-work laws, like the one signed by Gov. Scott Walker, are associated with average wages that are 3.1% lower than wages in states without right-to-work laws. Ohio governor and GOP candidate John Kasich pushed anti-worker legislation, which was rejected by Ohio voters, that would have likely lowered incomes and hurt job growth.
- GOP candidates oppose policies that help families balance work and home. Women are the sole, primary, or co-breadwinners in more than 68 percent of Ohio families, yet Republican candidates oppose key policies such as paid sick days, paid family and medical leave, equal pay, and access to childcare. Gov. Walker and Gov. Jindal signed pre-emption laws, preventing cities in their states from requiring paid sick leave.
- GOP governors ignore runaway tuition costs. Under Gov. Jindal and Gov. Perry, students faced exploding costs. College tuition and fees grew 44 percentage points in Louisiana and 69.3 percentage points more in Texas, respectively, more than in Ohio.
BOTTOM LINE: GOP candidates may claim they will help the middle class, but their policies benefit the wealthy while hurting job growth and making it harder for families to balance work and home and afford college for their children. With a falling median income, Ohio’s middle class cannot afford the choices offered by this class of Republican candidates.
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Mayor Rauner … seems to be against his constituents
Rauner suspends $26 million in social services, public health grants
Rauner suspends $26 million in social services, public health grants
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office worked with the Departments of Human Services and Public Health “to see which grants could be suspended and prioritized essential services.”
Associated Press
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner suspended $26 million in social services and public health grants as part of his push to whittle away at a $1.6 billion shortfall in the current state budget.
The Republican’s office released a list of targeted programs late Friday that included funding to pay for the funerals and burials of public-assistance recipients, smoking cessation, teen programs, autism, and HIV and AIDS programs, among other things.
Rauner also froze $3.4 million in funding for immigrant integration assistance as part of ongoing efforts to keep the state rolling through the June 30 end of the fiscal year.
Rauner’s office said the check-writing halt – he also interrupted $180 million in parkland grants in March – is necessary because the expenditures were based on the assumption a temporary income tax would be extended past January, but it wasn’t after Rauner won the election.
“Part of the solution to solving the inherited $1.6 billion budget hole without raising taxes or increasing borrowing is to continue to evaluate the current fiscal year’s budget,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said. “The governor’s office worked with agencies to see which grants could be suspended and prioritized essential services.”
The cuts will save the state $21.8 million in Department of Human Services Grants and $4.5 million in unexpended funding through the Department of Public Health. The suspensions only affect this year’s funding, Kelly said.
But there’s always another price – this one paid for by constituents who, as soon as Monday morning, will be told through closed doors there’s no more money to help them.
Breandan Magee, senior director of programs for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said dozens of organizations assisted 102,000 legal immigrants in 2014 with applications for citizenship, English as a Second Language classes and health and nutrition programs for low-income immigrants.
“There are 299 jobs across 60 different immigrant-services agencies at risk” with funding ceasing, Magee said Saturday. “There are workshops scheduled for citizenship, applications for citizenship pending, ESL classes hallway through.”
Immigrant integration programs – which Rauner proposed eliminating entirely in the 2016 budget – will forfeit nearly half of their $6.7 million budget, according to figures provided by the governor’s office. Magee said he hopes the state will cover expenses he’s already incurred.
A copy of Friday’s letter from Human Services, obtained by The Associated Press, notifies the recipient to “immediately cease incurring additional obligations, costs or spending any further grant funds.” Agencies must submit records of all spending for the year. Jimi Orange of Children’s Home and Aid faces the unenviable task of telling up to 25 of the 100 children in Chicago’s impoverished West Englewood neighborhood they can’t come to Earle Elementary School for after-class tutoring and cultural activities because the state has recalled the remaining $3.1 million of Teen REACH money for kids ages 7 to 17.
“The staff’s concern is how to tell the families? What to tell the kids? How to tell the kids?” Orange said. “These are kids who already have abandonment issues, trust issues.”
Parkland-related grants Rauner has suspended this year include $90 million for park facility construction, $56 million for local governments to purchase open space for future parkland, and $30 million for museum capital-construction grants.
Grants suspended by Rauner include:
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
Funeral & Burial, $6.9 million
Rauner’s ‘turnaround budget’ has cuts called ‘reckless,’ ‘wrong priorities’
You be the judge. Look at the list below and decide if grants for the Homeless or for HIV assistance, Addiction prevenetion, and so on are reckless.
Immigrant Integration Services, $3.4 million
Welcoming Centers, $191,300
ARC Lifespan, $118,100
Best Buddies, $250,000
Autism, $1 million
Group Home Loans, $20,000
Compulsive Gambling $406,000
Westside Health, $94,200
Addiction Prevention, $1.6 million
Assistance for Homeless, $300,000
Community Services, $2 million
Teen REACH, $3.1 million
Coalition F/Tech Assist-Child, $250,000
For Children’s Health Program, $231,600
Outreach to Individuals to Engage in Services, $380,700
Regions Special Consumer Support, $277,700
SMRF Training, $420,100
Transportation, $43,900
DD Latino Outreach, $87,500
Microboard Development and Outreach, $47,500
Epilepsy, $514,700
DHS TOTAL: $21.8 million
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Brothers and Sisters United Against HIV/AIDS, $789,800
Increasing Access to Health Care-Wellness on Wheels, $180,000
Wellness on Wheels – Mobile Administration 2015, $135,000
Illinois Tobacco Quitline, $3.1 million
Project Safe Sleep Education and Outreach, $250,000
MidAmerica Regional Public Health Leadership Institute, $75,000
IDPH TOTAL: $4.5 million
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES*
Park and Recreational Facility Construction, $89.5 million
Open Space Lands Acqusition and Development, $56.3 million
Museum Capital Grants, $30.4 million
Bike Paths, Mud-to-Parks, others, $2.6 million
IDNR TOTAL: $178.8 million
*Grants suspended in March
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FETUS TISSUE AND RESEARCH
Since the 1930s, tissue from fetuses have been used for the development of vaccines and in the recent past used to help advance stem cell research and treatments for diseases that are degenerative such as Parkinson’s disease. These researchers usually take tissue samples from a fetus that has already been aborted under conditions permitted by law and grow these cells from the tissue in Petri dishes.
Most of the uses of fetal tissue (and much of the debate) are not new. It has become a problem as the public is finding out about it and not researching how this is done.
Additionally, the ways fetal tissues are allowed to be gotten and used are not new either. The guidelines on this topic written by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released these guidelines on this topic in the 1990s.
The federal regulations state women must decide to have…
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After Cecil the lion
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Be a Seed for Change 
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